Fibrolase is an enzymatically active polypeptide (specifically, a metalloproteinase) composed of 203 amino acid residues that was originally isolated by purification from the venom of the Southern Copperhead snake; U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,879, issued Sep. 9, 1986 (Markland et al.); and Guan et al., Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Volume 289, Number 2, pages 197–207 (1991). The enzyme exhibits direct fibrinolytic activity with little or no hemorrhagic activity, and it dissolves blood clots made either from fibrinogen or from whole blood.
The amino acid sequence of fibrolase has also been determined, with methods described for recombinant production in yeast and use for the treatment of thrombembolic conditions in vivo; Randolph et al., Protein Science, Cambridge University Press (1992), pages 590–600, and European Patent Application No. 0 323 722 (Valenzuela et al.), published Jul. 12, 1989.